New Broome legislature may have different take on natural gas leases

Marinich has different take on conflict of interest

Nov. 22, 2010

Written by

BINGHAMTON -- A major Election Day shakeup rocked the Broome County Legislature and crowned a new majority party, and it could have an impact on the debate about leasing county-owned land for natural gas extraction.

Jerry Marinich, who is expected to be officially tapped by his Republican colleagues as the legislature's next chairman come Jan. 1, said he would allow land-owning legislators to decide whether to recuse themselves from resolutions regarding lease offers. That would mark a reversal from current chairman Daniel D. Reynolds, a Democrat, who acted on legal advice to bar four legislators from voting or discussing the offers because of their ties to landowner coalitions.

"I'm going to -- as a chair, unless I'm told legally I can't -- allow them to speak or vote if they so choose, unless they want to recuse themselves," Marinich said. "I'll leave it up to them to make their own choice."

Newly elected Republican Julie Lewis owns land in Vestal and serves as vice president of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York. She defeated Vestal Democrat Suzanne Gorman Messina on Nov. 2.

Lewis, who said she owns 33 acres, said she would look at recusal on a case-by-case basis.

"I look at it like this: If I find a lease with a company, say Chesapeake, and the county has an offer from that company, then I feel like I should recuse myself in that circumstance," Lewis said. "But just because I'm involved with the Joint Landowners Coalition doesn't mean I shouldn't vote on every resolution. There has to be a distinction."

Not all of the affected legislators share Lewis' stance.

Diffendorf, who met with Inflection Energy as the president of the Kirkwood Gas Coalition while the county was in between offers from the company, ignored Reynolds' request to refrain from discussion at the county's legislative session last week, urging fellow lawmakers to wait for coalitions to agree to lease offers before agreeing to one of its own. He did not try to vote on Inflection's offer, however.

He said if his coalition and the county were speaking to the same company, he would take himself out of the coalition's negotiations.

"I'll participate in the debate and I'll vote," Diffendorf said. "If my constituents think that I have a conflict, I'll hear from them. But right now, everyone that I'm hearing from wants me to vote and want me to debate the issue."

Herz, a member of the Windsor-Colesville Oil & Gas Coalition, said he would continue to take a cautious approach, whether it's mandated by the chairman or not.

"It's been explained to me and shown to me through three different legal opinions from three entities -- one of which being the New York State Association of Counties -- that I clearly have a conflict of interest," Herz said. "I will not participate in a discussion or in a vote on anything the county is doing with a gas lease, but that doesn't mean my constituents won't be represented. I will respond to every concern they have and bring them up in committee, if need be."

Reynolds' ruling was based on advice from county Attorney Joseph Sluzar, as well as outside counsel. Sluzar reiterated his position in an e-mail sent to Marinich and others Monday afternoon.

"The rules of ethics do not change just because of election results," Sluzar wrote. "My advice is that legislators with a conflict of interest should not participate in deliberations or voting on these issues. It is very important to avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

Marinich, however, said it should be up to the individual legislators.

"I, as chair, will not recuse them from speaking unless there is a legal precedent, which I am not aware of," Marinich said. "If their constituents feel they didn't do the right thing, I'm sure they'll let them know the next election."

Meanwhile, county Executive Barbara J. Fiala said Monday the county would take down its request for gas lease proposals from its website. Last week, Broome legislators overwhelmingly defeated a $7.8 million offer from Inflection for the gas rights to 3,200 acres of county land.

In July, Fiala pulled Inflection's offer of $16 million for 5,610 acres after it was clear it didn't have the support of the legislature. Both offers would have paid 20 percent royalties, minus a share of costs capped at 30 cents per thousand cubic feet of gas.

"I think some companies may be discouraged because of what has happened with the last two leases that have been offered," Fiala said. "We're not actively soliciting any new offers. If a company does show interest in leasing county land, certainly then we'll look at what they have to offer, and if we it's good enough, we'll pursue it."